


What Happens In Paris...

by VeetVoojagig



Category: Girl Genius
Genre: Angst, College, Flashbacks, M/M, Relationship Advice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-24
Updated: 2014-06-24
Packaged: 2018-02-06 00:07:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1837126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeetVoojagig/pseuds/VeetVoojagig
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens in Paris doesn't always stay in Paris. And has to be dealt with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Happens In Paris...

**Author's Note:**

> This story is set sometime during the period fixing Castle Heterodyne; I've been writing bits and pieces for so long I can't remember exactly when I'd planned for it to be set.

Tarvek Sturmvoraus. Prince of Sturmhalten. And… Ha. Storm King. Despicable snake, duplicitous weasel. And, now… an ally, of a sort. Even if I can’t take my eyes off him for ten minutes without worrying that he’ll quadruple-cross us. 

I’m too tired for this. Even the mental techniques my father taught me can’t work forever. I’m sitting on the floor, leaning against the cold stone wall of Castle Heterodyne, waiting for whatever happens next. I need to sleep, but someone has to keep watch. For whatever systems in the Castle are still working. For Zola. For Sturmvoraus. 

_He’s_ curled up on the other side of the room. Sleeping, apparently. I could go over and find out, but I don’t. I don’t really want to get that close to him, not right now. 

I close my eyes. Why did he have to be here? I thought I’d seen the last of him. It’s too soon. _Never_ would have been too soon. But he’s here, and I have to see him, and it’s getting harder and harder not to think about that night…

Paris had been wonderful. I loved everything about it. Except Sturmvoraus was there, with his condescending disapproval of everything I did, like it was any business of his… And wherever I went, he seemed to pop up somehow. You couldn’t help but be suspicious. What was he up to? How much did he know? 

It’s possible he was just there for school, but unlikely, given how much attention he paid in class. 

That night, I’d had to rescue Zola from something, at this point I don’t even remember what. It was probably those giant mechanical jellyfish, the ones with the poisoned tentacles. Yeah, that was it. Because I’d taken down three of them and gotten Zola to safety, but the fourth eluded me and went rampaging through the street. Well, I had to chase after it. I couldn’t let it destroy the town. I liked Paris too much. And it wouldn’t be right. There were lots of innocent people in its path. 

And one not so innocent. The monster blundered into an outdoor café, overturning tables as it twisted back to fight me. One of those tables seated Sturmvoraus. I destroyed the clank soon after, but when I turned to inspect the damage it appeared that the weasel’d managed to get himself caught on one of the tentacles. Now, maybe my father would have just left him there to die, but… he wasn’t actually involved in this. 

I arranged a crew to remove the clanks and handle the damage. Then I scooped up the princeling and dragged him back to his rooms. His lavish, self-indulgent rooms. I didn’t spend much time studying them, mostly because I didn’t care, but also because Sturmvoraus was really starting to worry me. He was conscious still, but he seemed slightly delirious. He was pressing his face against my chest and giggling, which was actually kind of creeping me out. 

I dropped him on his bed and worked on getting his shirt off, which was difficult, since it was covered with tentacle-ooze and I had to try not to get it on my bare skin. Without being pierced it wouldn’t be dangerous, of course, but it’d itch. Sturmvoraus, naturally, had lots of little scratches from where the tentacles had ripped his clothing with their sharp barbs, but from what I could see there weren’t any deep cuts. I could work with that.

His shirt was off and I was leaning closer to examine his skin when I realized his hands had been moving. I looked down. My own shirt was now halfway unbuttoned and becoming more so with every moment. His eyes were locked on what he was doing with an intensity that made me freeze. 

“Sturmvoraus,” I said. I’d meant it to sound menacing, but I have to admit it came out as a sort of squeak. 

“Gil,” he breathed. I’ve never been able to forget how he said my name just then. The heat, the longing. I opened my mouth, but couldn’t speak. I just stared down into his eyes, which gleamed with something I couldn’t describe. I felt his hand on the back of my neck, and then his lips were on mine. 

What was I supposed to do? I didn’t… I’d never… 

It felt amazing. 

I was so distracted by this that he had my shirt undone and off my shoulders before I even noticed his hands were moving. In fact, only the feeling of his warm palm against my suddenly cooler skin made an impression in the slightest. I gasped and tried to pull back, but his other hand was tangled in my hair. 

I can’t begin to describe what happened next. Even now, looking back, I have no idea how we wound up tangled together, skin against skin, hands and lips exploring every inch of each other. I don’t know why I let it continue, why I didn’t pull away and flee from that place. The time for that passed quickly, and soon there was no way I could have extricated myself.

It was insane, but at that moment, I wanted nothing more than to be there, doing… just what we were doing. 

Afterwards, well, that was when I started thinking again. Admittedly, for some time I was thinking about the aesthetics of his naked body strewn motionlessly across the bedsheets, but soon after that I had to realize that everything was wrong. This couldn’t have happened. I shouldn’t have let it. 

And when his eyes blinked open and he stared up at me, the disgust radiating from his expression proved me right. “Holzfäller,” he scowled. “You debased, lecherous cad. Will you stop at nothing?” He scrabbled for something to cover himself, which took a moment, given that our escapades earlier had resulted in all the blankets being pushed onto the floor. 

Unexpectedly, it hurt, hearing him say that. I kept it from my face and my voice. “I was just leaving,” I said calmly. “You’ll want to have someone check you for the after effects of the poison.” 

I left, then, and we avoided each others’ presence as much as possible. Soon after I was called back to Castle Wulfenbach, and I thought I would never have to see him again. 

Never.

But it never stopped me thinking about him. Remembering how it had felt, wrapped in his arms. The sound of my name on his lips. 

How it almost felt like he… cared for me. 

That’s been a rare feeling in my life, and losing it, even if I never actually had it… It was hard.

“So why don’t you go over there and kiss him?” a voice comes from above me. I look up, seeing Zeetha lying on a table, her legs going up the wall, her head hanging down the side, upside down, gazing at me with a smug little smile. My mouth opens, and I realize I’d been speaking aloud the whole time. I can feel the blood pooling in my cheeks. “No, really,” she goes on before I can say anything. “The tension between you two is so thick I could spread it on bread and eat it with cheese. You’ve just spent a good half hour explaining how much you want his fine, alabaster body, and given what I’ve seen, he’s just waiting for you to throw him to the ground and have your way with him.”

She flips off the table in one graceful move and sits on the floor beside me. “You’re mad,” I say hoarsely, not meeting her eyes. “Besides, he hates me. It’s obvious. And he has every reason to.”

An unladylike snort emits from her. “Because you’ve hidden everything about yourself from him and all he knows is the creation you made to keep yourself safe? Yeah, go figure. At least go talk to him. He needs to hear this story more than I do.” A sly smile crosses her face. “Well, almost. At least I’ve got some good images to think about in the bath now.” 

“Fine!” I say, pulling myself off the floor. It’s got to be better than listening to her, anyway. I stalk across the room. Tarvek’s still curled up in a corner, laying with the walls protecting his back and legs. He doesn’t move. Asleep? Perhaps. His breathing is even, eyes closed, but I wonder. 

I sit down on the floor, about an arm’s length from his head. I gaze at him silently, remembering the silken feel of that long hair over my fingers. A soft sigh escapes me. “Tarvek?” I whisper. He remains motionless. Too motionless. “Tarvek,” I say again, louder.

“Some of us are trying to sleep, you lout,” he says, his voice chilly. 

“No, you’re not,” I murmur. “Because you don’t trust me when you’re sleeping. Which is why I wasn’t sleeping either.” I smile wryly, looking down at him. 

He sits up, crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall, nestled snuggly in the corner. Paranoid to the last. “What is it, Wulfenbach?”

I stare at the opposite wall for a few moments, composing my thoughts. Clearing my throat helps. As does running my fingers through my hair. I glance back at him. “I’m sorry,” is the first thing I come up with. As he stares at me in blank incomprehension, I elaborate. “For everything that happened on Castle Wulfenbach. And in Paris. I gave you plenty of reasons to hate me.”

Tarvek’s face is unresponsive, though I think I see something in his eyes. Confusion. Or hope? “You certainly did,” he says, his tone level. “And I understand that’s what you wanted. And, like a Wulfenbach, you went for overkill.” His lips tightened and he looked away. 

I swallow. “I… You have to believe me, I never… I know you can’t remember that night, but I do. Every moment of it. No matter how much I try. I didn’t mean for it to happen. I was… just trying to help. You were hurt. I carried you home.”

Tarvek’s eyes roll slightly. “Yes, yes, and I was vulnerable, and you took advantage. It happens all the time. I’m over it. Why does it matter?”

My own eyes widen. “I didn’t. I would never… Look. You were messed up on whatever toxins got in you, and…” I can feel a blush rising in my cheeks. “You started it. I didn’t know how to stop you. I, uh. I’d never…” I sigh, the heat in my cheeks tripling. There’s not another way around it. “That’s the only time I’ve ever, you know. Slept with someone.” 

Finally, a genuine expression on Tarvek’s face. Of course, it’s not a flattering one. He looks like he’s been hit in the back of the head with a 5/6 occipital wrench. 

“You can’t possibly be serious,” he finally says, still staring at me.

I rub the back of my neck. “Does it really sound like the kind of thing I’d say if it wasn’t true?” I ask.

He drops his head into his hands and groans. “Oh, red fire. You’re pretty sneaky, but not _that_ convoluted. So…” He grimaces. “I’m not the one who got taken advantage of, you’re saying. Lovely. Wonderful. How do you always manage to make me look like the villain while you come out blameless, even in this?”

“Tarvek…” I close my eyes. “That’s not what I’m trying to do. I just… I wanted to say… Even though I didn’t mean for it to happen, it was, well… nice.”

Tarvek has that wrench to the head look on his face again, so I speak before he injures himself trying to think. “It was a big mistake, but until you woke up, I was happy. I think.”

He’s still staring at me, but I’m out of words. At last he’s found some, though. “So,” he says slowly, “if I hadn’t misinterpreted the situation and been angry…”

“Uh.” I’m rubbing the back of my neck again, which I only do when I’m nervous. “I’d, uh, I don’t know. But maybe it would have been good. Us. You know?” I stare at him, remembering Zeetha’s first piece of advice. Maybe it wasn’t crazy. Maybe…

I stop thinking and just do it. His lips are soft under mine, and he responds instantly. It’s like fire and wine. It’s like science. I could do this forever, and by the look in his eyes when I pull away, he could, too. I flush, and only then do I hear the whistling from the other side of the room where I’d left the green-haired hussy. I ignore her, but blush harder. “I, uh. Yeah?”

“Oh yes,” Tarvek purrs. Before I know what’s happening, he’s pulled me to my feet and is dragging me into another small room, away from prying eyes, and I know that I’m not going to sleep for a long time.


End file.
